Moore's law is coming to an end. At least, that is what a large proportion of hardware designers believe. However, the great open challenges of science and engineering require ever more powerful processors. To meet these needs, tech giants like Google or Nvidia are turning to the development of ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). Unlike ordinary processors, these chips can perform only a reduced set of operations but at unparalleled speed.

Success or failure in designing microchips depends heavily on steps known as floorplanning and placement. These steps determine where memory and logic elements are located on a chip. The locations, in turn, strongly affect whether the completed chip design can satisfy operational requirements such as processing speed and power efficiency. So far, the floorplanning task, in particular, has defied all attempts at automation. It is therefore performed iteratively and painstakingly, over weeks or months, by expert human engineers.